Thesis (M.A.)--B.Y.U. Dept. of Church History and Doctrine.

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published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

The principal focus of this dissertation is to investigate the role of media coverage in the investment decisions of mutual fund investors and the consequent effects on flows into the funds. I examine investor attention and learning effects by examining the relation between media coverage of mutual funds and the net investor flows to the funds. Using a database of nearly 10,000 news articles, I find that the existence and stance of media coverage affects net investor flows into the fund in ways consistent with investor attention and learning. Further, the media coverage does not have a uniform effect on flows. News articles with positive (negative) tones are associated with significant increases (decreases) in flows. I find that fund size and past performance influence the impact of media coverage on mutual fund flows. I also find that, as a fund ages and investors receive additional news about the fund, there are smaller effects from the news. This is consistent with the hypothesis that investors learn about funds through media coverage and that this knowledge affects their investment behavior. These results suggest that media coverage can have significant economic effects on mutual funds through the effects on investors' attention and learning. / text

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This thesis is based on theoretical studies of molecular collisions occurring at relatively low to intermediate collision energies. The collisions are called dissociative recombination (DR) and mutual neutralization (MN). In a molecular quantum mechanical picture, both reactions involve many highly excited molecular electronic states that are interacting by non-adiabatic couplings with each other. The molecular complexes involved in the collisions are relatively (diatomic or triatomic systems) composed of relative light atoms. This allows for accurate quantum chemistry calculations and a quantum mechanical description of the nuclear motions. The reactions studied here are the MN reaction in collisions of H++ H-, Li++ F-, and He++ H- and the DR reaction of H2O+. Rotational couplings are investigated in the study of MN reaction for  He++ H . For some reactions, the electronic resonant states have to be considered. These are not bound states, but are states interacting with the ionization continuum. Electronic structure calculations are combined with electron scattering calculations to accurately compute potential energy curves for the resonant states involved in the DR of H2O+ and the MN of  He++ H. From these calculations, the autoionization widths of the resonant states are also obtained. Once the potential energy curves are computed for the systems, the nuclear dynamics are studied either semi-classically, using the Landau-Zener method or quantum mechanically, employing the time-independent and time-dependant Schrödinger equations. Reaction cross section and final states distribution are computed for all the reactions, showing significantly large cross section at low to intermediate collision energies. For the MN processes, studied here, not only total cross sections are calculated but differential cross sections as well. Where possible, comparisons with previous experimental and theoretical results are performed / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

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Thesis advisor: Robert G. Murphy / Research has shown that individuals can be persuaded of a message in two ways: using a central (rational) approach, or through a peripheral (more “irrational”) approach in which irrelevant signals are seen as convincing. In addition, it is suggested that recent negative experiences cause individuals to favor the central route, whereas individuals in positive moods rely more heavily on the peripheral route. I extend these findings to the realm of financial advertising by presenting a simple model predicting that mutual funds will use more economically rational arguments when stock market returns have been low, and will cater to irrational inclinations when returns have been high. These predictions are supported by two case studies of print advertisements in Money and the Journal of Financial Planning from the period January 2003 to March 2009. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics.

Thesis advisor: Pierluigi Balduzzi / Employing a novel data set of portfolio weights from 1997 to 2006, the performance of taxable bond mutual funds is studied. The timing ability of fund managers is examined considering different asset allocation choices such as asset class, credit quality allocation, and portfolio maturity decisions. I show that active managers engage in strategies of rotating their portfolios across fixed-income sectors and bond characteristics. Some bond funds exhibit successful timing ability by adopting these strategies. Comparing fund returns plus expenses and transaction costs with the returns of a portfolio that is invested in the previously disclosed holdings, I document that active managers exhibit some ability to select securities that deliver better returns than the securities in the indices. In particular, on average, active managers generate gross returns of 1% per annum over the benchmark portfolio constructed using past holdings. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

Mutual Coupling (MC) is the exchange of energy between multiple antennas when placed on the same PCB, it being one of the critical parameters and a significant issue to be considered when designing MIMO antennas. It appears significantly where multiple antennas are placed very close to each other, with a high coupling affecting the performance of the array, in terms radiation patterns, the reflection coefficient, and influencing the input impedance. Moreover; it degrades the designed efficiency and gain since part of the power that could have been radiated becomes absorbed by other adjacent antennas' elements. The coupling mechanism between multiple antenna elements is identified as being mainly through three different paths or channels: surface wave propagation, space (direct) radiation and reactive near-field coupling. In this thesis, various coupling reduction approaches that are commonly employed in the literature are categorised based on these mechanisms. Furthermore, a new comparative study involving four different array types (PIFA, patch, monopole, and slot), is explained in detail. This thesis primarily focuses on three interconnected research topics for mutual coupling reduction based on new isolation approaches for different wireless applications (i.e. Narrowband, Ultra-wide-band and Multi-band). First, a new Fractal based Electromagnetic Band Gap (FEBG) decoupling structure between PIFAs is proposed and investigated for a narrowband application. Excellent isolation of more than 27 dB (Z-X plane) and 40 dB (Z-Y plane) is obtained without much degradation of the radiation characteristics. It is found that the fractal structures can provide a band-stop effect, because of their self-similarity features for a particular frequency band. Second, new UWB-MIMO antennas are presented with high isolation characteristics. Wideband isolation (≥ 31 dB) is achieved through the entire UWB band (3.1-10.6 GHz) by etching a novel compact planar decoupling structure inserted between these multiple UWB antennas. Finally, new planar MIMO antennas are presented for multi-band (quad bands) applications. A significant isolation improvement over the reference (≥ 17 dB) is achieved in each band by etching a hybrid solution. All the designs reported in this thesis have been fabricated and measured, with the simulated and measured results agreeing well in most cases.